Tuesday, December 25, 2012

26th December 2012, Wednesday, St. Stephen, First Martyr

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 / Matthew 10:26-27

If we look up on the images of St. Stephen, there are various portrayals of him .

Some will picture him holding a palm branch to symbolize the victory of martyrdom.

Some will show his martyrdom by stoning as we heard in the 1st reading, which was a slow, painful and gruesome death.

But quite a number of pictures will also show him dressed in a deacon's vestment, which actually is a sort of apron to indicate that the ministry of the deacon is for service of God and the Church.

On one hand he is pictured as holding a censer to indicate his role in the liturgical service of the Church.

On the other hand he is pictured holding a miniature church. This is to indicate his role and his influence on Church especially during its infancy that was filled with turmoil and turbulence.

In today's liturgy, we honour St. Stephen as the First Martyr and with his death came along the path of blood that was laid out for those who would witness to Christ with their lives.

Yet St. Stephen and those that laid their lives down were only following what their Lord and Master Jesus had done and given them the example.

Jesus Christ came into the world to show God's love and we celebrated the great and joyful feast of His birth yesterday.

He came to save us. Yet He had to lay down His life on the cross in order to redeem us from sin and eternal death.

On the cross God forgave us our sins. As for St. Stephen, as his life came under a pile of stones, he too said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them".

On this feast of St. Stephen, let us ask for forgiveness for our sins. And let us also ask for the grace to forgive others too.